Puri Jagannath Temple: Deities away, ASI looks for ways to rid shrine of rats

BHUBANESWAR: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has embarked on a peculiar exercise to spot burrows in the Puri Jagannath Temple where rats have been giving sleepless nights to the deities for a long time.
With the presiding sibling deities — Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra — away from the shrine since Rath Yatra on June 20, ASI experts entered the sanctum sanctorum on Thursday to look for holes from where rats have been invading the shrine.
The experts have a maximum eight days to look for a solution for the rodent menace as the deities, who are currently at Gundicha Temple (their birthplace) would return to the Jagannath Temple on the occasion of Niladri Bije on July 1.
“We will conduct our routine inspection of the sanctum sanctorum (garbha gruha) to know if the ceiling, walls and floor are in good condition. This apart, we will try to find out how rats are entering the temple. After spotting the holes and inspecting the drainage system, we will take remedial measures,” said D B Garnayak, superintending archaeologist (Puri circle). A temple official said they may apply some chemicals and plug the holes, if detected, to prevent the access of the rats and other insects to the sanctum sanctorum.
Recently, the temple administration experimented with a rat-repellent machine to scare away the rodents.
But the administration was forced to remove the machine from the sanctum sanctorum after servitors ratted out the gadget donated by a devotee for making a humming sound that would disturb the sleep of the deities.
The rodents have been chewing clothes and garlands of the deities and littering the place with urine and faeces. Mice were seen on the Ratna Singhasan, an elevated pedestal for the deities during puja and the offering of bhog.
“Currently, we are setting mouse traps and releasing the mice caught outside the temple complex. We are left with no other option because its forbidden to kill or poison mice in a sacred place,” another temple official said.
Servitors had first flagged the concern in January this year saying the rats are an imminent threat to the sanctum sanctorum and the wooden idols of the deities.